About

Project ThunderStruck set to Break Barriers

Project ThunderStruck aims to build as small a spacecraft as
possible that will handle reentry, remain stable and land softly. It is for payloads of somewhere between 10Kg and 50Kg depending on the size of the craft required to reenter the earths atmosphere stabily. The
“softly” is important as commercially there are payloads that may need
to be conducted in a “weightless” environment and then be brought down
without too much jarring. A parachute landing would not be suitable.

Stage One is what is being funded here. The transonic testing phase. Simply, we take up the test craft on a zero pressure balloon (these don't explode like weather balloons) to an altitude of over 40km and release it.

Stage one is simple by space standards. The craft will be in an air density that is pretty close to space. A tiny fraction of 1% and I mean tiny. The craft will fall to approximately Mach 1.5 (1,800kph) and easily break the sound barrier. As it falls the atmosphere becomes more dense. This will slow the craft down and it will go subsonic. This is the transition that we will be testing. We have a few ideas as to how to use the denser atmosphere in a more extreme breaking arrangement than just the air passing over the outside of the craft creating drag. As the craft slows, it will change configuration and become more aerodynamic for flight and it will level off and land.

For the last three years, my son and I have been sending payloads high into the stratosphere and we have recovered all 20 payloads that we have flown. Jason, aged 12, is also a keen remote control hobbyists and is about as good as they get, including the design and building of remote control craft. He is also very aerospace savvy, has his amateur radio license and was keen to be involved in some way. This is when I realised that he could easily be the remote control pilot for Project ThunderStruck. With adult backup, Jason will fly the glider

New Science, New Data, New Opportunities

Apart from the glitz of the big event in 6 months (a 12-year-old
breaking the sound barrier) there is a lot of science being done. In
fact the event side of this project will be funded by sponsors and the
crowd funding will be for the additional science outlined below.

There is a commercial opportunity to design and create a winged
re-entry vehicle specifically for delicate payloads and experiments that
last for more than 4 minutes in a weightless environment (tourist
sounding flights to space). These are experiments and payloads that
would find a parachute landing too harsh. There is a final output of the
work and that is a spacecraft for experiments or even a payload taxi
service back to earth. The most important aspect of this work is
determining the smallest size of a winged spacecraft that can remain
stable during re-entry. There are three stages of the physical testing:

Transonic – Project ThunderStruck in 6 months time

Reentry from space (delivered on a sounding rocket – no orbit); 2-3 years away.

Re-entry from orbit; 6 years away

There are two science components to the upcoming testing over the next 6 months:

Stability of a small aircraft at mach 1.5 / 1,800kph / 1,120mph and lower speeds for landing

testing a new type of surface for high-speed flight. (not a heat shield)

Since Jason has experience and a fantastic track record in High
Altitude Balloon flights and flying remote control aircraft, he wanted
to look after that first phase of the project. The transonic Phase.
Transonic flight is the flight around the area of breaking the sound
barrier. All sorts of problems occur near the sound barrier. When we
drop the aircraft from 40Km altitude, first we have to get through the
sound barrier as the drag increases significantly, but once through the
barrier, the drag essentially reduces until your speed increases
further. The real testing then commences as our tests will be about
slowing, not increasing speed. We will be measuring the behaviour of the
craft and airflow over the surfaces.

(Hey, we are not wonderful at making videos, but we make up for it in amazing high altitude science and technology.)

Project ThunderStruck has Commenced Flying Tests

Just in case you are concerned that this is all talk and no action,
we started test flights in Sept 2014. The results are simply amazing and
we will use them to refine our project.

The event will take 6 to 9 months to
complete and the testing is the most important aspect of this project.
It is new territory for us and almost the entire world. There is still
fresh science to be done and innovative ways to use new materials and
designs. Recently we learned a lot when a non-aerodynamic payload (space
chicken from Clintons Toyota) reached speeds of 400kph / 250mph with
its parachute deployed. This is because the air is pretty thin up at
33.33Km or 1/3 the way to space. Our payload took several measurements
during the fall.

Space Chicked Drop Test

The
space chicken was a simple test and we are now happy that we can easily
fly at speeds of Mach 1.5 in the very thin air high up in the
stratosphere. Left is a picture of the chicken falling back to earth at
400kph. Even the parachute could not slow the payload in the thin air.
It slowed down as it reached 28Kms altitude and the air got a bit
thicker.

The Cost

We have started fund raising as we need
help to cover the costs of the science parts of the project. Once we
know what we have, we can decide on the extent of the program. We need
$20,000 or more just for science and we have turned to crowd funding for
that.

We have some “Perks” as part of crowd funding that I hope you will
love. Some of our payloads will go supersonic before the big event, but
they will not be aircraft. We might even donate one of our supersonic
payloads to a generous contributor.

STEM – Project ThunderStruck set to Inspire Kids Worldwide.

Fighter jets break the sound barrier every day, but this radio
controlled aircraft has no engine, weighs 9Kg (20lbs), is 2.5m (8 ft)
long. So the pilot must be a really experience Top Gun to fly this plane
at 1,800kph (1,120mph)? Well, no. His name is Jason Brand and he is 12 years old.

This is probably one of the most important demonstrations of STEM
education that you can support. This is beyond the ability of almost
every adult on the planet, yet a 12 year old student is set to inspire
kids around the world with a daring project that is pure STEM – Science Technology Engineering Mathematics.
It will make the seemingly impossible the domain of the young if they
choose to break down the barriers imposed by themselves or others. Not
only that, there is real science going on here.

Your Assistance is Essential

Your crowd funding help now is
essential. It gets us started immediately. Flying balloons to the edge
of space for testing is an expensive exercise and we have a 7 hour drive
each way to get into areas of low air traffic away from the major
aircraft trunk routes. We also have to buy a lot of radio systems to
allow remote control from the ground when the glider is up to 100kms
distance.

You can click on one of the 2 crowd
funding links at the top right of the page. Even $1 will help unlock new
discoveries and bed down older science.

Who is Jason Brand?

He is a 12 y/o student from Sydney Secondary College, Balmain Campus in Sydney, Australia.

He carried out his first High Altitude
Balloon (HAB) project at age 9 and was so inspired that he sat for his
amateur radio license at 9 years old. Since then he has launched a total
of 19 HAB flights and recovered all 19. Some flights were in Croatia
where mountains, swamps and landmines are risks not seen in Australia.
He is also the Student Representative for Team Stellar – A Google Lunar
X-Prize team attempting to get a rover onto the moon.

Jason talk on Canberra's Fuzzy Logic Science Show

Jason
appears on Radio and TV regularly and the picture right shows him
talking about HAB flights on Canberra’s Fuzzy Logic Science Show in
2013. He is also a member of the Australian Air League, Riverwood
Squadron. He plans to solo on his 15th birthday.

His father Robert Brand is an innovator
in creating low cost solutions for spaceflight. He speaks regularly at
international conferences, is a regular guest lecturer on aerospace at
Sydney University, writes about aerospace and takes a very “hands on”
approach to space. He supports Jason’s project fully.

How will ThunderStruck Work?

The same way that the first pilots broke
the sound barrier; in a steep dive. The problem is, that since there is
no engine and the biggest issue is air resistance, Jason will launch the
aircraft from over 40km altitude or nearly half way to space! He will
get it there on a high altitude balloon. The air is very thin at that
altitude and once released, the craft should accelerate past the speed of sound before the air is thick enough to slow it down. the air density is just a tiny fraction of one percent of
the air at sea level. During the dive, the craft will accelerate to well
over Mach 1 and it will need to be steerable
by its normal control surfaces to pass as an aircraft. As the air
thickens at low altitudes, the craft will slow and, with the application
of air brakes, will slow and then be levelel off for normal flight to the
ground.

The Technology

We will have a camera in the nose of the
aircraft and it will transmit TV images to the pilot on the ground.
Jason will be either in a darkened room with a monitor or wearing
goggles allowing him to see the view from the on-board camera. This
provides what is known as First-person Point of View (FPV). The
aircrafts instruments will be overlaid on the video signal. This is
known as “On Screen Display” or OSD. Below is a view typical of what
will be seen by Jason as he lands the craft.

The
video signal must travel over 100kms to be assured of the craft being
in the radius of the equipments limits. Similarly we must send commands
to the control surfaces of the radio controlled aircraft. Again this
must work at a distance of over 100kms. The craft has ailerons,
elevators and rudder as well as air-breaks and other systems that need
controlling. We will use a 10 channel system to ensure that we have full
control of every aspect of the craft and a “binding” system will ensure
that only we can fly the aircraft.

We will have to buy 2 x $5,000 GPS unit
capable of sampling at what is essentially the speed of a missile. These
are highly restricted items, but essential. The unit will record to an
SD card and send back telemetry every second. It is essential to know
the speed during the flight rather than waiting until after the event.
After all Jason needs to knowthe speed to be able to fly the aircraft.
We will also need 2 x radar responders to allow other aircraft and air
traffic controllers to know where our craft is and our balloon is at any
time.

The Big Event

We can expect global TV News coverage of
the event and many records to be broken. The day will start by filling a
large Zero Pressure Balloon like the one pictured below.

The
balloon will carry the aircraft to over 40km where it will be released
and go into a steep dive and break the sound barrier. As the air
thickens, the speed will slow and the craft will be pulled out of the
dive and leveled off to drop speed. The aircraft will eventually land
and data and video records will be recovered. We will already know the
top speed, but there is nothing like solid data rather than radio
telemetry that may miss the odd data packet. Both the balloon and the
aircraft will be transmitting live video.

There will be opportunities to attend,
but it is likely to be in a rather remote part of the state (NSW,
Australia) or a nearby state. The flight will be broadcast over the
Internet and the opportunity to track and follow the flight will be
available to all. The chance to be involved is high and the science and
inspiration will be out of this world. Project ThunderStruck is set to
thrill.

We have support from key space and aeronautical people from all over the world to advise and support our efforts. Even before we officially start, Tim Gagnon and Dr Jorge Cartes have designed our mission patch. Between them they have designed many patches for NASA missions. Find out more about them and us on our website or we will tell you more about them and other supporters on Kickstarter.

Risks and challenges

Jason is ideally suited to build such a vehicle. He has launched and recovered all 19 stratospheric payloads both here and in Croatia. He flies RC models and has studied aerospace. He has had his amateur radio license since he was 9 years old and is the student representative for Team Stellar, a Google Lunar X-Prize team destined to land a rover on the moon. Jason is also in the Australian Air League and expects to solo on his 15th birthday. He also has me (his father), a team of aerospace advisers, Radio Controlled gurus and interns from a local Sydney University to assist him. Failure is not likely and is very low risk with the construction methods selected for the airframe and the servo system. His father is a well known Australian Space innovator who travels the world appearing as a guest speaker at major space conferences. This project is the transonic phase of a re-entry vehicle from space. Project ThunderStruck is the simplest of the tasks to complete the entire Spacecraft, but Jason will have had a part in building a real spacecraft for the future.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge AU$ 750 or more
About $539

Your company's 15cm x 15cm (approx 6" x 6") logo or name on the fuselage of ThunderStruck. This aircraft will will be seen globally and pictures and video will be seen world wide for years to come. Be seen to support the flight and the first in will be able to claim the best place for logos of this size. We will even accept a portrait if it meets our standards. The logo will also appear on our website and you will receive a cap and tee shirt when they are available

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge AU$ 1,500 or more
About $1,079

Your company's 30cm x 15cm ( approx 12" x 6") logo or name on the fuselage of ThunderStruck. This aircraft will will be seen globally and pictures and video will be seen world wide for years to come. Be seen to support the flight and the first in will be able to claim the best place for logos of this size. We will even accept a portrait if it meets our standards. The logo will also appear on our website and you will receive 2 x caps and 2 x tee shirts when they are available. The shape of the space can be negotiated, but it is 450 sq cm or approximately 70 sq inches